Courts affirm Christian groups’ campus rights

A federal appeals court ruled July 16 that the University of Iowa violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in exercising “viewpoint discrimination” against the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapter on campus for requiring campus leaders to be Christians.

The university action in deregistering InterVarsity was “clearly unconstitutional,” a three-judge panel of the St. Louis-based appeals court said in a unanimous decision.

The opinion marked the third time in recent months a court has ruled in favor of a student ministry that had been kicked off campus because of its beliefs. Rulings in March and April involved campus organizations at the University of Iowa and Wayne State University in Detroit. Read the full article at tabonline.org/first-amendment-on-campus.

Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.